SELECTIVE LIBERAL ARTS CONSORTIUM (SLAC): OPENING DOORS FOR EXCELLENT GRADUATES

The Selective Liberal Arts Consortium (SLAC) was a grouping of seven of the most prestigious private liberal arts colleges from across the United States. It is, ostensibly, focused on facilitating the transition of the graduates of SLAC member colleges into the workplace. The consortium was founded in the early 2000s under the stewardship of administrators from Bryn Mawr College, Grinnell College, Haverford College and Vassar College who oversaw the secretariat function for the association until it was disbanded in 2022.

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ABOUT

The Selective Liberal Arts Consortium is comprised of many of the leading and most selective liberal arts colleges in the United States with admissions criteria and acceptance rates rivalling the better known Ivy League colleges and their peers. The consortium is known by the acronym SLAC, which is also a commonly used acronym meaning “small liberal arts college” or “selective liberal arts college” – both of which are terms regularly used to describe the consortium’s member institutions.

At its inception, the founding colleges invited representatives from a number of the most renowned colleges in the nation to join the network. The original eleven founding members included: Bryn Mawr College, Carleton College, Dickinson College, Franklin & Marshall College, Grinnell College, Haverford College, Kenyon College, Oberlin College, Pomona College, Vassar College and Washington and Lee University. Over the years membership expanded to include other elite liberal arts colleges, including Bard College, Bates College, Claremont McKenna College, College of Wooster, Colorado College, Davidson College, St. Olaf College and Smith College.

The consortium works together to develop best practice career guidance programmes and, more so, to coordinate careers fairs and so-called “milk round” recruitment programmes for corporate partners. SLAC makes the case to prospective employers as to the benefits of a broad, grounded liberal arts education and why they should consider hiring graduates from selective liberal arts colleges, many of whom will have academic research experience usually only available to postgraduate students at major universities. They are staunch advocates and proponents for the added value that diversity in thinking can have with respect to shaping a positive organisational culture and improving decision-making and organisational leadership.

Many liberal arts colleges were increasingly frustrated by warped ranking methodologies in the late 1990s and early 2000s which would often boost research universities above better performing liberal arts colleges. They often assessed the output of postgraduate and post-doctorate research programmes rather than assessing undergraduate ability and attractiveness on a like for like basis. Even at the elite research universities, the vast majority of students graduate having completed undergraduate studies and do not pursue further studies but those universities were not being contrasted appropriately against liberal arts colleges (which are predominantly, if not exclusively, undergraduate institutions). Many selective liberal arts colleges were outclassing their larger peers when examined for their academic results and attractiveness to the marketplace once they had entered the jobs market. This issue was reflected in the campus recruiting efforts of many large and prestigious graduate recruiters in banking, consultancy and blue-chip corporations who would dispatch recruitment teams to careers fairs at major universities but would often overlook their liberal arts college peers. In some cases, their geographic location being outside of the nexus of a major university or education hub precluded their campuses from being visited (particularly so for midwest schools).

This helped to determine the need for organisations like SLAC and their efforts in both raising awareness of the quality of their graduates and their member colleges whilst also ensuring that their inclusion on the graduate recruitment tours was a must. Digitising the process became a core component of what SLAC could do to improve these outcomes.

The SLAC network also helped share and develop best practice approaches to preparing their graduating students for interviews and recruitment pathways into some of the most competitive and challenging careers with leading employers. Students of SLAC member schools and target employers have access to an exclusive portal facility that enables identification of opportunities and the processing of applications and interviews. Employers are also able to assess the top-performing pupils who they may seek out to approach for potential opportunities with their firms. SLAC also coordinates a number of career fairs and events to allow introductions to be made and to showcase potential employers to graduates and vice versa.

Membership of SLAC is highly exclusive, with invitation extended only to the best performing and most highly-selective colleges in the country. Prospective membership is limited only to those institutions that existing members consider to be peer schools. It’s member schools regularly feature at the top of rankings and are often considered to be amongst the “Little Ivies” – the group of colleges considered to compete with the Ivy League schools and whose culture, campus, ethos, academic performance and selectivity are on a par with the same (which also typically includes the NESCAC schools to complete most recognised groupings). All of the member schools are or have also been members of other selective associations and consortia including the Annapolis Group and the Oberlin Group. Many are also members of other prestigious membership groups and networks such as Questbridge, the 568 President’s Group, the 12 College Exchange Programme and the Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges (CLAC). Many of the schools also participate in the admissions-focused Small College Consortium (SCC). Many of the SLAC colleges are part of the wider “Ivy Plus” community and participate in various Ivy Plus initiatives under the Ivy Plus consortium banner, including the Ivy Plus Sustainability Consortium (IPSC) and the Ivy Plus Writing Consortium (IPWC).

Over the years, membership has varied with some colleges joining and others leaving. At it’s peak, the Selective Liberal Arts Consortium counted fourteen of America’s best-regarded colleges amongst its members. Seven members remained until the association was formally ended in 2022.

To find out more about the Selective Liberal Arts Consortium, you can use the contact details below or get in touch with your preferred member institution.

We welcome your thoughts and contributions about these selective liberal arts colleges and a discussion regarding the value of these various consortia and how they help colleges differentiate in a competitive marketplace. Please share your insights with us in the comments below. Our readers are especially keen to hear from people who attend or have attended any of the member institutions listed below and would be grateful for any unique details you can share based on your experience.

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MEMBERS

CHOOSE LIST VIEW FOR A SIMPLE LIST OF ALL LISTED SCHOOLS. ALTERNATIVELY, YOU CAN SELECT SCHOOLS USING THE MAP BELOW.

FORMER OR LAPSED MEMBERS AND ASSOCIATES

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